Tag Archives: Henry Ford

The automobile is a thread that runs through the last century and more of Michigan’s history—and through the Michigan Historical Museum’s twentieth century galleries as well! Even young students can discuss similarities and differences among cars and imagine what it might have been like to ride in the various models.

After reading The Mitten’s issue on Henry Ford’s Model T, students should be able to address these kinds of questions. This lesson is designed to help students understand the economic culture surrounding Michigan’s labor force, and the differences between the labor force of Henry Ford’s time and the labor force of current times by putting students in the position of a laborer and asking them to assess their own financial situation. You Will Need: A copy of the February 2004 issue of The Mitten, found here. A copy of the Model T worksheet: ModelTDiagram Students will need simple calculators, pencils, and paper to figure out wages and costs. Questions to Consider during this lesson: Ask students these questions at the beginning of the lesson, and see what they think, whether they have a way to formulate an educated answer or not. Tell them to think about these things throughout the discussion and activities. After the lesson, return to these questions and see what they think again; their opinions may change. Why was the Model T such a popular car? Who do you think would have bought a Model T, and why? What made the Model T so important to both the United States and foreign culture? How Affordable Was a Model T? If a Ford assembly line worker made $5 a day and worked 250 days per year, how much would he or she earn in a year? ($5 x 250 = $1250.) What percentage of his or her annual income would the purchase of a $290 Model T represent? ($290 \ 1250 = 23%.) How does that percentage compare to costs today? How would you go about figuring this out? (Students can choose a car from the current ads they collected to price a new vehicle and use either minimum wage ($7.25 an hour in 2009), or an assembly line workers’ average hourly wages ($14.51 an hour for Floor Assembly III position, 2009) to compare the costs of purchasing a new car today.) Workin’ the Assembly Line Let students experience what it is like to work on an assembly line by setting up a series of simple, repetitive, timed tasks. Use the image of the Model T provided in this lesson. Have each student find a specific part in the image such as the steering wheel, left front tire, back seat, assign each student a part to be colored with a different color crayon. When the line boss says go, each student colors the shape they are responsible for. When the timer bell goes off, the student must pass the project to the next person on the line whether they’ve finished or not once students can accomplish the tasks assigned, speed up the line. Some students may have bigger or more complicated tasks to accomplish than others and may not be able to finish the task in the assigned time. This will provide some material for later discussions such as: What problems did the class encounter? How did working on the line make students feel? Did the quality of workmanship change when the line was speeded up? How did students feel about working hard and not having ownership of the finished product? How did the time involved in producing the item by the assembly line technique compare to the time it would take one individual to complete the task? Bringing Home the Bacon After having completed both of the above activities, bring the class back together in a discussion setting. Initiate some questions wages and costs, payments of insurance, etc. Ask how the students would feel about trying to buy the product they’d just made on an assembly line salary in 2011, and in 1908 or 1927. Give the students the guideline of spending a flat %20 of their income on transportation. Set a fixed cost for factors like insurance and gas and ask the students to compute different figures relating to their purchase. How do they differ from then to now? This Lesson Involves Michigan Education Standards as Follows: 3-G4.0.1 –Describe major kinds of economic activity in Michigan today, such as automobile manufacturing and explain the factors influencing the location of these economic activities. 3-E1.0.4 –Describe how entrepreneurs combine natural, human, and capital resources to produce goods and services in Michigan. 4-E1.0.1 –Identify questions economists ask in examining the United States (e.g. What is produced? How is it produced? How much is produced? Who gets what is produced? What role does the government play in the economy?). N.MR. 04.14 –Solve contextual problems involving whole number multiplication and division. 3-E1.0.1 –Explain how scarcity, opportunity costs, and choices affect what is produced and consumed in Michigan 4-E1.0.5 –Explain how specialization and division of labor increase productivity (e.g., assembly line). Further Explorations: For additional ideas and lesson plans related to the Model T, go to: Henry Ford’s The Model T Road Trip: Lesson Plans, at: http://www.hfmgv.org/education/smartfun/class/modelt/main.html

“I will build a car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one – and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in ***’s great open spaces.” ~Henry Ford This lesson is designed to help students understand the implications of different industrial and technological changes in the workforce and consumer culture. Students will demonstrate this understanding through comparisons to today’s industry. Materials Needed You will need a copy of the February 2004 Issue of The Mitten (found here on SeekingMichigan.org), to be handed out to students in class as a reading activity. Copies/pictures of original Model T advertisements, which can be found here: www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/showroom/1908/ads.html Students will need access to current magazines, either at home or at school, and they will need permission to cut them apart. We recommend scissors, posterboard, construction paper, markers, and some adhesive be available in class for this lesson. Mastery Questions After giving students sufficient time to read the brochure, either in groups or alone, depending on their age group, pose these questions, which directly refer to the information in the text. 1. Why was the Model T such a popular car? 2. What did a driver need to keep a Model T running? Why was it important that a Model T be easy to repair? 3. What do you think the newspaper meant when it said, “Ford Motor Company has beaten out both the (U.S.) flag and the Constitution in carrying civilization into the wild places of the world.”? 4. What are the differences between natural, human, and capital resources? Which is the most/least profitable? Compare and Contrast: Then and Now After having read the brochure and discussing the information about Henry Ford briefly in class, have students collect and bring in current automotive ads from newspapers and magazines. Compare and contrast features of the Model T, from the original ads and from other pictures on the web (displayed on a projector screen in front of class) with features of cars today. Have students give examples of sales points from the ads they brought in and from the ads they created. What is different? What is the same? Create a Venn diagram with two interlocking circles. Label one “Model T” and one “Today’s Cars” and the intersection of the circles “Shared.” As a class, decide whether each sales point is unique to the Model T, unique to cars today, or whether they are an automotive feature shared by both time periods. Write the characteristics into the corresponding places on the Venn diagram. Discuss the reasons for any differences found. Creating an Advertisement Ask students to imagine that it is 1908. Henry Ford has come to them and asked them to design a print advertisement (there is no radio or TV) to convince people to buy his newest car, the Model T. Henry knows that in order to sell cars he needs to tell people how his car is different from other cars on the market. A good ad needs to have one strong “sales point” directed at a specific audience. Have students select and write down one target audience (men, women, families, people who have never owned a car, farmers) and their message for that audience. Then ask them to design an ad that conveys their message. Have the students explain to each other why they believe their graphic image will capture the attention of their audience and what distinctive features of the Model T their message uses. This Lesson Involves Michigan Education Standards as Follows: 3-G4.0.1 –Describe major kinds of economic activity in Michigan today, such as automobile manufacturing and explain the factors influencing the location of these economic activities. 3-E1.0.4 –Describe how entrepreneurs combine natural, human, and capital resources to produce goods and services in Michigan. 4-E1.0.1 –Identify questions economists ask in examining the United States (e.g. What is produced? How is it produced? How much is produced? Who gets what is produced? What role does the government play in the economy?). W.PS.03.01 –Exhibit personal style and voice to enhance the written message in both narrative (e.g., varied word choice and sentence structure, character description) and informational writing (e.g., examples, transitions, grammar and usage). W.GN.03.04 and W. GN.04.04 –Use the writing process to produce and present a research project; initiate research questions from content area text from a teacher-selected topic; and use a variety of resources to gather and organize information. In .04.04 narrow research questions, take notes and draw conclusions. Further Explorations: For additional ideas and lesson plans related to the Model T, go to: Henry Ford’s The Model T Road Trip: Lesson Plans, at: http://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/smartfun/class/modelt/lessons.html